Head of Bulgaria’s State Fund Agriculture resigns at request of caretaker Agriculture Minister

The head of Bulgaria’s State Fund Agriculture, Roumen Porozhanov, resigned on February 1 at the request of Hristo Bozukov, Agriculture and Food Minister in the caretaker Cabinet.

Porozhanov has twice headed the State Fund Agriculture – from 2011 to 2013, and again from November 2014. He was finance minister in the 2014 Bliznashki caretaker government.

Bozukov, who along with the rest of Ognyan Gerdzhikov’s caretaker Cabinet took office on January 27, asked Porozhanov to step down because of “public mistrust” towards the State Fund Agriculture, doubts over the legitimacy of the appointment and a court decision to restore to office the previous head.

Bozukov said that he had received allegations of irregularities in projects from beneficiaries and it was necessary to carry out a thorough review of the fund.

Announcing this on the morning of February 1, he gave Porozhanov an hour to submit his resignation.

The former head of the fund, Miroslav Nikolov, and his deputy Violeta Alexandrova were dismissed in July 2014. They appealed against the decision in court, where it was ruled that their dismissal had been unlawful.

/Politics

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